Classic Games: Nocturne

After the disappointment of Clive Baker's Jericho, I searched my archives to find a scary video game and I saw Nocturne. It's a horror game which was released in 1999 and looks like Resident Evil(In my opinion, it's scarier than Resident Evil). In 1999, horror games were very popular by the effect of Resident Evil. Many of them looked same and we've already forgotten some of them. But Nocturne is not one of them. It's a high quality game that you can play even today with pleasure. Game atmosphere really takes you in. It makes you feel like something could happen anytime. Also there is a sign on the game's box that tells you not to play the game if you have a weak heart.

Game begins at the beginning of 20th century. The main character is a cool looking agent named "Stranger". He works for a secret organization named Spookhouse that investigate paranormal events and murders. Game has 4 parts and all that parts are very interesting and different from each other. You fight against many enemies such as werewolves, vampires, zombies and demons. All of them are designed very well.

Nocturne's graphics were the most liked feature about the game. You generally play in dark places. Lighting and shadow effects were amazing for that years. All characters have realictic shadow effects. Stranger's weapons have a laser pointer for a better aim and it looks very good when you walk in a foggy area. Of course all these graphical features required a good system in that years. That was another reason for its success. People who had a good system have enjoyed this classic game. There are some good details in the game. First of all, Stranger is designed very well. When he runs, his clothes waves very realistic. If he kills a creature and walk over its blood, every step leaves a bloody footprint. That details were very successful in that years. Ok, but isn't there anything bad about graphics? Of course there is. Dialogues are very important for the game and unfortunately, characters don't have face movements. They talk but their mouths don't move. Environment doesn't look very good as well. Also when you shoot a creature, you can't realize that if you shot it or not. Nocturne was a famous game with bugs and issues. Game crashes often but there were some patches to fix that bugs.

Audio is another good thing about the game. Strange noises that comes from environment and creatures really scare you. In a part of the game, I was in a jungle and walking. I heard wolf howls and it was getting louder. Suddenly, I was surrounded by werewolves and I was really scared. What happened next? Of course I died. Also musics suit the game very well.

Let's talk about the controls. Controlling Stranger is very hard and you control him with mouse and keyboard. But making him turn right and left is very hard. Plus, creatures are very fast. Shooting system was new for that years. You can take a creature down with just a single shot to the head. But doing this with that terrible controls is not easy. Also camera angles are not very good. They change depending on gameplay. But save system is the solution for all that problems. You can save the game whenever you want.

You should spend a serious time to get used to Nocturne. But then you will see that it worths it. I can't forget it's atmosphere. Also storyline makes you feel like you are in a horror movie. It's an action-horror game actually but there are some adventure features like puzzles you have to solve. Most importantly, it has everything that you expect from a horror game. If you like Resident Evil and Alone In The Dark series, Nocturne is the game you must play. It's still scarier than most of the horror games that are released today. 14 years have passed since it was released but it still deserves to be played. It's absolutely a classic video game.